September birthdays and more!

Today is my final day off work email, so I better share some of the happenings of the last week or it may not happen for awhile! There's been a lot of celebrating life happening around here, and that feels worth sharing about. Intertwined in the birthday festivities has been a good deal of fall harvests and transplanting and preparing for tucking the gardens in for winter. And for me, mixed together with the wonderful celebrations of life and love and our connections to one other, has been a significant splash of grief and anger and anxiety about the state of our world.

Let's start off with what's been happening in the some of the gardens! I didn't get in on any of the black bean harvesting this year as that occurred when I was frantically trying to prepare to shut down my work email for a week. But it's drying on racks in the garage and black bean threshing is on the docket for tomorrow! We always have to try to choose the optimal time for harvesting where we'll get the most dry beans before things start deteriorating in the patch. That means, of course, that there is a mixture of mature dry beans and then a bunch of what we call "shelly beans." It's a good thing those are a hit around here as we had a lot of shelly beans this year - enough to eat a bunch and freeze some as well!

Once the patch was free of dry beans, we could get in there to dig white potatoes. Initially it felt like we were digging them much earlier than normal and that the harvest was really paltry. In the end, we were digging them on the exact same day as last year and it was really only about 1/2 a bushel less. Though we are moving in the wrong direction with 3.5 bushels of white potatoes this year, 4 last year and 4.5 the year before. That said, the quality of the harvest was better - with very little damage and hardly any green potatoes - and we had also transitioned last year to a 3 bed system instead of 4. We normally will take quality over quantity - in this case we are grateful for quality and will keep working on quantity!

This little gal wanted to dig as many as she could her "silly way!" The white potatoes are not quite as easy as the sweet potatoes for that, but it was hard to turn her down as her excitement was bubbling over!

...I've had a brief interlude in my writing. I had to take a "time out" from working on this post as blogger's recent "upgrade" is similar to most computer upgrades in that it has made the whole thing less user-friendly for me. I can't figure out simple things like embedding photos which used to work without a hitch. So I was ready to throw my computer across the room, which is always when it is time for a break! So I'm back after breathing in some wonderful fall fresh air while cleaning the cooking tomato patch to prepare for putting wheat seed in the ground. I'm eager to get back out there and am still "fighting" with the blog set up changes so this may be less thoughtful or thorough than I might have hoped! 

Fall includes lots of "cleaning up" in the gardens and I find those tasks particular fulfilling to do! Recently we chopped up all the okra plants, over a series of days took all the sweet potato vines to the pigs, and as of moments ago, Tala deemed the patch ready for planting (she has been working hard on both the vines and also getting rocks out the patch!!). So that might be this afternoon's project. Jason and I made a commitment to taking a few days off from major farm work this week and the rainy day yesterday prolonged that time off by a welcome bit. But now we are feeling eager to get seeds in the ground so we don't leave soil bare much longer. 

But lest I not get ahead of myself, here's some images from the birthday fun from this week! We kicked off the celebrations with a trip to Shenandoah River State Park with our "Cub Runts" crew (as we call ourselves). Jonathan and Christen introduced our family, along with Emily, Jonas and Ivy, to the paw paw groves along the river, there was lots of splashing (with or without clothing), fun with paint rocks, a physically distanced picnic (complete with paw paw ice cream in honor of my and Jason's upcoming birthdays) and a few daring persons even went for a swim (while some of us snuggled under blankets). 

The very next day with kicked off the string of birthdays in our household with Tala's birthday. There was some puzzling, LOTS of Dutch Blitz and other game playing, and homemade noodle making (it's a tradition to eat noodles on birthdays in the Philippines, as they represent longevity). We also learned a fun little birthday song in Filipino for the occasion and my mom made and decorated a cake! One of our gifts to Tala was an expanded Dutch Blitz game with 8 decks so more people can play at one time. So there was additional laughter as some of us playing that day seemed to go deeper into the negative numbers than positive (I won't name any names but will say it was the only male member of the downstairs household). :)

Sunday we headed to the Blake's to celebrate the 4th birthday of my birthday buddy and niece, Ivy! She was still sleeping when we arrived so we went out and waited in/by the trampoline for her to come out. It was very cute to see her happy and surprised at our presence there! And what a fun time we had - Emily and Jonas have done a lot to prepare their space for fun physically distanced times with others - there are now two trampolines, two stomp rockets, two screened tents, etc... So there was fun "together" without being close to one another. I think the highlight for me and Jason was playing whiffle ball. Wow, that had been awhile!

Then on to my 42nd birthday, followed the next day by Jason's 44th! Common themes of all these days of celebration included amazing special foods, time relaxing, game playing, more naps than we normally get in several months, and just enjoying being together. Probably the most notable thing from my birthday was how I was more or less kicked out of the kitchen and forbade from doing any chores. I got away with some transplant watering and a few other tiny outdoor animal chore-related items (but probably only because I was out of Tala's sight for those moments!). Jason and I started the day with a hike to Hensley's Pond with coffee in hand and books to read. I'm reading Communion: the Female Search for Love with a few work colleagues and friends. It seemed a fitting day (my birth day) to start a deep dive into love (particularly self love). When we returned, there was a lot of activity in both kitchens. We soon sat down to a birthday feast, a team effort by my mom, Tala and the girls. Even Kali woke at 7:45 a.m. to make the potato crusted quiches! There was a delicious trombone squash soup and biscuits too. Yum! To keep me out of "trouble" following the meal, the younger gals pampered me by brushing my hair and giving me a foot rub. That is a sure way to keep me still. 

After a game of Upwords, in which I did horribly, it was time for a snooze and then the hope had been to cook burgers over an outdoor fire for our dinner. It was actually a food request from Jason, but the weather looked better on my bday for that meal. Well, the rain set in right as we were playing some badminton just before getting the fire started. And it didn't seem to be going anywhere. We played 7 Up 7 Down on the deck while we "waited it out" and then gave up on that and cooked inside. It was still delicious!!

We ended the day enjoying pumpkin pie (for Jason) and frozen pumpkin squares with gingersnaps (for me), while we watched the first episode of the current season of the Great British Baking Show. The celebrating didn't feel over that evening, since Jason's birthday was up next! We also received a variety of birthday coupons that will be gifts that keep on giving!

Jason and I almost didn't have our alone start to the day when Terah woke right as we were about to sit down to coffee and reading. Thankfully Alida woke around the same time and they were willing to snuggle together for long enough for us to read a chapter in Collapsing Consciously before they "crashed" our funny cake pie party. Most times we are open to kids joining us and proceeding with our reading, but while this is an excellent read, it is also heavy and would need extended processing were we to incorporate little people. We recommend it for all human adults. It's stirring our emotions and thinking and contributing to important conversations between us - that we hope to expand to others in our lives! But that could be a blogpost all of it's own (and not when kids are chattering in the background and I need to get lunch in the oven)!

The day (another with napping, reading, game playing and some music making) concluded with yet another feast (this one made by Tala, that also incorporated noodles). We have eaten well, played hard, rested a lot, and connected with each other. I'm grateful for this week...

And there's a little birthday chain now hanging in our front room from the one in our household that is so very excited to be turning 5 soon! We look forward to celebrating with her in wild, wonderful West Virginia!

Welcome September - fall is in the air!

It appears that I've become a "monthly blogger." I was thinking of working on this post outside, but it's actually chilly when sitting still outside. I love that! I am reminded on the first day when there is the fall chill in the air why September is my favorite month! Add to that surviving August and the slowing of tomatoes along with the goldenrod, Jerusalem artichokes and amaranth sprinkling Tangly Woods with yellow and burgundy and it's not a huge surprise that this month is one of the most welcomed of the dozen!

Here are some highlights from the last few weeks.

The last chick hatching of the season has concluded, unless some hen decides to go broody (which is more and more unlikely by the day). Jason had a repeat order for a large hatch so we got to enjoy chicks in the house one more time for adoring and holding before they went off to their new home. There are still chickens of all sizes running around the place, and my morning always includes Alida coming in excitedly from her chicken chores to give me the rundown on how all her favorites are doing. 

There have been some new culinary delights in our household. The star of the show in them is onion chives! I've never been a huge fan of homemade buttermilk cheese or sour cream. I've wanted to like them as they are probably the most bioactive cultured raw milk product one could consume so probably chock full of excellent bacteria (assuming one has a good, safe raw milk source, which we do). But they've often been just a bit too tangy (or sometimes I use the term "barny") for my palate. Well, adding some minced fresh onion chives and a little salt transforms both into delicacies! I'm making "squash chips" as fast as I can route them through my dehydrator and a squash chip dipped in chive sour cream is akin to the best sour cream and onion chips I've ever tasted!

September is a month with lots of celebrations in our family and we kick off the celebrations with my parents' wedding anniversary. They returned to the "Rhino Resort" restaurant for an anniversary addition brunch. We are now gearing up for a string of 4 birthdays in about 2 weeks here at Tangly Woods, thanks to Tala adding another September birthday to our family this year! The excitement is brewing!

Food processing has started to slow up as the focus has shifted to the big fall harvest and cover cropping, but thanks to friends and neighbors we had a small but delightful grape juice making day. We kept out enough for Mom to make two grape pies (which we savored along with another episode of Frozen Planet)! We also made another amazing discovery - after making grape juice, we often strain the remaining pulp through our Victorio strainer (with grape spiral) and then can that as "grape sauce." It's good but we still have a bunch and I was not interested in a canning project at the end of that particular day. So I put the sauce in the crockpot over night to thicken it and the next day spread it on the trays of the dehydrator and it made the most amazing grape leather. 

Fall is the perfect time for outdoor fires and we finally got to eat the pizza pockets we had hoped to enjoy as part of Kali's birthday festivities. 

It's also starting to be the time of year when kiddos are chilly when they craw out of bed in the mornings. It didn't help that I wanted to leave windows open as long as possible. As a result, they work hard to get warmed up in the front room by recreating snuggling under covers once again.

It was a month where I once again (as I do often) felt grateful for Jason's skill set! After pondering on the curious nature of the wet spot that showed up at the end of our front walk, it finally dawned on Jason one day that it was potentially a water line leak. It also corresponded to a huge spike in our electricity usage. A little investigation, including my dad hanging out in the laundry room to see if the pump was clicking on and off, revealed that the pump was on 100% of the time and that we did indeed have a leak (which now explains the troubles we had irrigating in spring and running the well dry over and over again). Hindsight is 20/20 and we feel a bit silly for how long we pondered the wet spot before the most obvious explanation dawned on one of us! In the end (once we carved out a day for Jason's to dedicate to it), it was less than a day's work and about $10 for the part and we are back up and running normally. 

I don't know if Dutch Blitz was happening while Jason was out there digging in the gravel, but it's quite likely. Mostly because it happens a lot, at least for one stint each day if not more. Alida continues to hold the championship in all their competitions, which is probably lovely for the best enjoyment of all because she definitely cares the most about that title!

When not inside playing games, fall is one of the most enjoyable times for family harvests as the weather is such that all can enjoy being outside for a longer time without getting hot, sweaty, tired, etc... Here's some of what is coming in to the garage, common room, three-season room and our mouths:

Tala got to pick her first apples ever - she picked the ENTIRE tree in a few minutes. The harvest = 3 apples! 

Terah was the first to have popcorn ready for harvest. She was so excited to pull the layers of the husk away to see what surprise awaited her beneath. She was very happy with the results!

Speaking of fall colors, the autumn joy in Nora's garden gives me warm fuzzies each time I walk past it!

Tala and Jason get full credit for the buckwheat harvest this year - both in the planting and the harvesting.

It is now winnowed and drying in pans in the common room. Not a huge harvest but plenty for seed and some to eat. 

We have never had such a delicata harvest - over 4 bushels! They like to sit for about 2 weeks before eating to cure but we have some "first use" ones that should be eaten as soon as possible. As I type, Jason is getting some ready to go into the oven for our first sampling. If they taste as good as they look, we will be dining well for the coming months!

Two of our favorite family harvest times are here. Sweet potatoes happened yesterday and white potatoes is coming up on Tuesday. The girls were bundled up as if it was the dead of winter! They will acclimate in time to the cooler temps. :) 

It was a smaller harvest than last year but we think there are also likely still a lot in the patch that we didn't get - runners that went out from the main plant that we'll likely uncover when cover crops go in. We were so thankful to good weather and good help to get them all dug and curing by the end of yesterday - we did have our FIRST FROST last night!

Terah enjoyed immensely getting to help dig this year, and you can see a little video at the end of this post of her special "tick tock" method!

The voles did tax the crop considerably but this was the hill that must have been right near a "vole colony." They seemed to go for the Mahon Yam over Beauregard sweet potatoes this year.

We hose them off before putting them in trays for the curing process, which toughens up the skins, heals over injuries sustained in the harvest and kicks off sugar production for making sweeter tubers!

While we do this every year, the main thing that keeps changing is the ways in which kids can engage in the process as they grow. Terah was quite pleased to have arrived at "tray hauling" status this year.

While tucking the sweet potatoes into the three season room, we discovered a sizable snake skin by Mom and Dad's deck. No one else seemed to like the idea of making it into a necklace. I did assure Tala that I would not actually use it as ribbon for any of her birthday presents!

It is again a time of year in which I'm inclined to grab the camera before certain meals. There are just so many colors! Here we are enjoying many "lasts" of the season - cantaloupe, raspberries, pears (from friends), tomatoes, peppers, fresh parsley pesto, squash saute, tomato and shallot sauce, and of course some homemade cheddar and parmesan (which is a year-round thing!). 

We find ourselves savoring meals like this: okra patties with fresh oregano, squash patties with fresh parsley, some of the last slicer tomatoes and the first boiled sweet potatoes.

I was telling Jason the other day how odd it feels to be going through our days and weeks where in some moments everything seems completely normal - harvesting sweet potatoes and doing morning chores - and then in the next moment nothing feels the same - a trip to town or navigating seeing friends or monitoring any physical symptom that might hint of a virus. Every Friday, either Jason or I (normally me) head to town with a mammoth list of errands (our weekly trek). It's mostly quick stops dropping eggs off or picking up pig scraps, but occasionally I get to savor physically distanced walks with friends or chats out in the yard. On one such visit this week, the person doing lawn care asked that we move to the next yard for them to mow and in the move, my mask (which was on my lap) dropped to the ground. When we returned to our former seating spot, I discovered that the mask--which my mom had made--had had a run-in with the lawn mower. It's amazing how in that instance, a little panic rises up. Thankfully I was nearing the end of my town trip and there was a spare in the car (not as well fitting for me, but I used Jason's to get me home). 

The book Jason and I are reading together currently is Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times. While written a decade or so ago, it feels like it could not be more pertinent for this moment. I may not be far enough in to offer a solid book recommendation, but it does say something that I've suggested Jason and I try to read a chapter a day together! More reflections on that might be forthcoming, but for now I find myself thinking about how in many ways we have spent considerable time and energy in our life here at Tangly Woods preparing for how to meet physical needs in the event of a collapse. This book is expanding and deepening my reflections to include pondering how we have/are also preparing emotionally and spiritually. 

Bonus videos for your enjoyment!

Rosie eating chestnuts (last year's that the moths got to in storage)

Terah digging sweet potatoes